STRAND’S NEW POLICY

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 223, 9 December 1927, Page 14

STRAND’S NEW POLICY

SCREENING OF “BEN HUR” The screening of “Ben Hur” at the Strand Theatre on Friday next will be an event of unusual interest for more than one reason. It will also mark the new policy for the Strand. Commencing with “Ben Hur,” it is the intention of the Fuller-Hayward management to reserve the Strand for feature pictures. The theatre has been specially renovated for this purpose, and will be well in keeping with the type of entertainment which will be offered at the Strand. Besides its tremendous magnitude and the universal fame of the novel and play, “Ben Hur,” Fred Niblo’s epic for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, has an entirely new claim to being the most remarkable picture ever produced. “Ben Hur” depicts the customs and manners of 20 different races of the period of Caesar Augustus during the first' century. The life of the Roman conquerors, of Jewish princes, of Egyptian slaves, the sheiks of the Arabian desert, of galley slaves of all nationalities, and of the hundreds of types prevalent along the east coast of the Mediterranean during the world of the ancients, are all in the picture. The title role is played by Ramon Novarro, and May McAvoy interprets the part of “Esther.” Other stars are Francis X. Bushman, as “Messala,” Carmel Myers as “Iras,” Nigel du Brulier as “Simonides,” Kathleen Key as “Tirzah,” Claire McDowell as the mother of “Ben Hur,” and Betty Bronson as the “Madonna.” The great chariot race in the Circus Maximus is the most spectacular and realistic sequence ever seen on the screen, and marks one of the principal high-lights of this wonderful production.

The box plan for “Ben Hur” will open on Monday.